Ugandan women bare bras in police protest

One placard asked the police: "How would you feel if we squeezed your balls?"/FILE

KAMPALA, Apr 23 – Six Ugandan female opposition activists were detained briefly on Monday after they stripped to their bras to protest the alleged sexual assault by police of a colleague, activists said.

The activists, who marched on Kampala’s main police station, said they were angry at police treatment of a female opposition leader last week, which reportedly included the squeezing of her breast.

Around a dozen female activists – several of whom had removed their shirts in protest – walked through central Kampala waving placards, including one reading “How would you feel if we squeezed your balls?”

“We wanted to make the point that we wouldn’t tolerate this behaviour,” event organiser Barbara Allimadi told AFP. “We wanted to ask the police if they are there to do their jobs or there to pinch breasts.”

On Friday, Ugandan television broadcast footage of opposition Forum for Democratic Change women’s leader Ingrid Turinawe having her right breast squeezed by a police officer as security personnel tried to arrest her in her car during an attempted opposition demonstration.

Allimadi said that the protesters were released without charge after two hours in custody.

Police claim that the officer responsible for the groping was a woman, she said.

Earlier this month the government banned the Activists for Change opposition group behind a wave of protests – but opposition activists quickly re-launched the group under another name.

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